Hello from an Irish family in Belgium
Jan 13, 2023 18:41:59 GMT 9
Post by Aislínn on Jan 13, 2023 18:41:59 GMT 9
Hi everyone. I'm Aislínn, mother to 2 little boys (Dara and Art, 2.5 years and 6 months) and living with my husband and boys in Belgium. We are all Irish (although the boys were born here in Belgium). Our home language is Irish (yes it is a different language to English). We live in Brussels which is a very multicultural and multilingual city. Our eldest son speaks Irish very fluently already and is in creche already where he speaks French (he doesn't speak French at home but the nursery teachers tell us he is very chatty 
).
Most of the children in creche have different languages at home (Spanish, Finnish, Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Dutch) so my son is very aware that different people speak different languages in different contexts. We don't speak English at home with the boys, although both myself and my husband were brought up with English as our first language. We have lots of friends and family back in Ireland, some of whom speak Irish but many of whom only speak English. We also have some friends in Brussels with whom we speak only English. We spend at least a month in Ireland each year so Dara is exposed to lots of English then but it definitely is his 3rd best language. Art of course isn't speaking yet so we will have to wait and see.
So far our bilingual journey is going pretty well but I know it may become more challenging as our sons get older. Trying to ensure Irish remains our home language and the boys have enough exposure not only to communicate with us but be fully literate in the language will require effort I have no doubt but we are very motivated in this goal. As French will be the school language, I am confident we shouldn't have problems there (too confident perhaps?). How we ensure English fluency without sacrificing their Irish or French development however, might be more challenging.
I look forward to hearing how other people are coping with trilingualism and learning from your experiences.
).Most of the children in creche have different languages at home (Spanish, Finnish, Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Dutch) so my son is very aware that different people speak different languages in different contexts. We don't speak English at home with the boys, although both myself and my husband were brought up with English as our first language. We have lots of friends and family back in Ireland, some of whom speak Irish but many of whom only speak English. We also have some friends in Brussels with whom we speak only English. We spend at least a month in Ireland each year so Dara is exposed to lots of English then but it definitely is his 3rd best language. Art of course isn't speaking yet so we will have to wait and see.
So far our bilingual journey is going pretty well but I know it may become more challenging as our sons get older. Trying to ensure Irish remains our home language and the boys have enough exposure not only to communicate with us but be fully literate in the language will require effort I have no doubt but we are very motivated in this goal. As French will be the school language, I am confident we shouldn't have problems there (too confident perhaps?). How we ensure English fluency without sacrificing their Irish or French development however, might be more challenging.
I look forward to hearing how other people are coping with trilingualism and learning from your experiences.
